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Statutory License Stipulations

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There have been many recent changes to licensure in statute and rule. Please review the Latest Licensing News blog for updates on current licensing requirements.

NOTE: If you are looking for information regarding the One-Year License with Stipulations or the Three-Year License with Stipulations please see the License with Stipulations webpage.

Educators in Wisconsin are licensed based on the completion of a state-approved educator preparation program. All educator preparation programs in Wisconsin that are approved by the State Superintendent have incorporated all the statutory requirements as stated in Wis. Stat. 118.19 and Wis. Admin. Code PI 34.

It is not likely that a state-approved educator preparation program outside of Wisconsin will have the same statutory requirements in their programs because each state has its own licensing requirements. As a result, applicants for a Wisconsin educator license who completed their program outside of Wisconsin will not usually have fulfilled all the statutory requirements for a Wisconsin educator license. Applicants who are otherwise eligible for a Wisconsin license based on their credentials may be issued a license with statutory stipulations. For a list of statutory stipulations and details about the specific statutory stipulation criteria, please see Wisconsin Statutory and Administrative Rule Requirements for Educator Licenses.

License with Statutory Stipulations

If an educator is issued a license with statutory stipulations, they will receive a statutory stipulation letter along with their license certificate. The license holder should retain the statutory stipulation letter. A few things to note about license with statutory stipulations:

Licenses with statutory stipulations cannot be advanced to the Tier III Lifetime license.

All statutory stipulations must be satisfied or removed during the license period, before the expiration date of the license, in order to obtain a regular educator license (without statutory stipulations).

If an educator has not removed all statutory stipulations before the expiration date of their license, they may be eligible for a Provisional license. A Provisional license is a three-year license available to teachers, administrators and pupil service educators. A Provisional license may be issued to educators who completed an approved educator preparation program. This is a full license. Please see the Application Directions for (Re)issuance of Provisional License for information on eligibility and directions on how to apply.

Professional development is required for removing all statutory stipulations except conflict resolution and student teaching. The requirements for these latter two can be met through experience.

Educators must provide evidence of meeting statutory stipulations when applying to renew or advance their license.

Believe You Already Met a Statutory Stipulation?

If you feel that you have already completed coursework that covers any statutory stipulations cited when your license was issued by the DPI, make a copy of the statutory stipulation letter and send it to the college or university where you completed your educator preparation program. Request that an official from that college or university (preferably the certification officer or dean of the education department) forward a letter of verification to the DPI, indicating that specific coursework satisfies one or more of the statutory stipulations.

Conflict Resolution

The Conflict Resolution statutory stipulation can also be met with a letter from the educator's school district supervisor attesting that the educator has demonstrated competency in all of the following:

Resolving conflicts between pupils and between pupils and school staff.

Assisting pupils in learning methods of resolving conflicts between pupils and between pupils and school staff, including training in the use of peer mediation to resolve conflicts between pupils.

Dealing with crises, including violent, disruptive, potentially violent or potentially disruptive situations, that may arise in school or at activities supervised by a school as a result of conflicts between pupils or between pupils and other persons.

Student Teaching - Not Enough Weeks

State law requires that teachers complete a full semester of full-time student teaching. Teachers whose preparation program required less than 18 weeks can meet this statutory stipulation with a verification of employment confirming 18 weeks of successful full-time teaching experience. These verifications should be uploaded with your application to renew or advance your license.

Courses and Workshops that Address Statutory Stipulations

Any identified statutory stipulation that can be fulfilled through coursework can be completed at any approved program. However, the following includes information of programs created specifically to the needs of educators who holds license with statutory stipulations.